The format is defined by time. Under the FIDE classification the boundary runs by the total time available to a player for the whole game, counting the increment over an assumed sixty moves:
The common amateur controls - 3+2, 5+0, 5+3 - all sit inside blitz. Anything faster than three minutes is usually called bullet, which is not a separate official category but is treated as blitz for rules purposes.
Why the classification matters in practice: it determines which rating the games count towards, and it determines which set of rules applies - rapid rules.
The single biggest difference from classical chess, and the source of most disputes. In blitz an illegal move is punished far more severely.
The core rule
An illegal move is completed once the player has pressed the clock. Under the FIDE Laws in force since 1 January 2023, the first completed illegal move in blitz gives the opponent one extra minute and the position is restored; a second illegal move by the same player in the same game loses. The opponent must claim before making their own move - once they reply, the move stands and play continues.
Before 2023 the first illegal move could already be claimed as a win, and many amateurs still play by that older rule - worth clearing up before round one.
What counts as an illegal move:
A club event may set its own penalty - stricter or softer. That is a legitimate choice, but it has to be in the regulations - not decided on the spot when it happens.
In blitz the clock decides more games than the board does, so the details matter.
Practical note for organizers: digital clocks with an increment remove a large share of flag disputes, because the time never runs to zero unnoticed while moves are being made - about clocks. If the club is short of digital sets, a chess timer for blitz in the browser gives every table the same 3+2.
The most common flag question: your time ran out, but your opponent has almost nothing left. Article 6.9 of the FIDE Laws answers it: if the opponent cannot checkmate by any series of legal moves, the game is drawn, not lost by the player whose flag fell.
Only the opponent'spieces count - the player who still has time. Your own material does not save you, however much of it there is. And "can checkmate" does not mean "knows how to win", it means mate is possible on the board at all, even with your very worst play.
| Opponent has | You have | Result when your flag falls |
|---|---|---|
| A lone king | anything | draw |
| King and knight | a lone king | draw |
| King and bishop | a lone king | draw |
| King and bishop | king and a bishop on the same colour | draw |
| King and knight | king and any piece or pawn | loss |
| King and bishop | king and a pawn, knight or opposite-colour bishop | loss |
| King and two knights | a lone king | loss |
| King and pawn | anything | loss |
The loss rows surprise people most. Two knights cannot force mate against a lone king, but a mate with two knights exists if the defender blunders - so mate is possible and the flag loses. Knight against your rook is the same story: your own rook can wall your king into the corner and the knight mates. And an opponent's pawn can promote to a queen, so it always decides the game.
The draw still has to be noticed: the game ends drawn once the flag fall is established and mate is impossible; nobody needs to claim a draw separately, but the players or the arbiter should stop the clock and check the position. The other ways a game ends drawn - draws in chess.
One organizational rule removes most of these: an arbiter within reach of the boards that matter. In blitz a dispute cannot be reconstructed after the fact - there is no record.
Five lines that settle nearly every argument before it starts - and they take a minute to write:
And announce the first two out loud before round one: half the players will not have read anything - what to announce before the start, running a blitz evening.
Up to ten minutes per player for the whole game, counting the increment over an assumed sixty moves. Above that and up to sixty minutes is rapid; beyond sixty is classical. Common amateur controls like 3+2, 5+0 and 5+3 are all blitz.
Under the FIDE Laws since 2023, the first completed illegal move gives the opponent one extra minute and the position is restored; a second illegal move by the same player in the same game loses. The opponent must claim before making their own reply - after that, the move stands.
Yes, if the opponent cannot checkmate by any legal series of moves: a lone king, or king and knight or king and bishop against your lone king. But if mate is even theoretically possible - two knights, a knight against your rook, any pawn - the flag fall is a loss.
No, it has to be claimed, and only by a player. If neither notices and both keep playing, the game continues. If the opponent cannot deliver mate by any legal series of moves, running out of time is a draw rather than a loss.
No, notation is not required. The consequence is that claims based on threefold repetition or the fifty-move rule become almost impossible to verify, so in practice they are rarely upheld.
Put five things in the regulations - exact control with increment, the illegal-move penalty, who may call a flag, the tie-break order and the rating status - and announce the first two aloud before round one. Keep an arbiter near the decisive boards.
There are no club or arbiter roles in the app: the create button is available to everyone. You can announce a tournament today and run it this weekend.
The bot is constantly improved based on real tournaments. If you need a feature that isn't there yet, message the developers right inside the bot with the /support command. Many features appeared exactly because organizers asked for them, and useful ideas get added quickly.
Rules - rapid, draws, lateness and forfeits, etiquette.
At the board since childhood: hazy about his rating, precise about every rook he has blundered. Counts an evening as a good one if the opponent stayed to talk afterwards instead of rushing off to check with an engine. Message →
